Barry Lamar Bonds was born on July 24th, 1964, born to former baseball superstar Bobby Bonds. Born in Riverside, California and grew up in San Carlos, California. He attended Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo. He played varsity baseball for three years and batted .467 his senior season, and was honored as a prep All-American. The Giants drafted Bonds in the second round of the 1982 MLB Draft as a high school senior. Unable to agree on a contract Bonds went to college to play for Arizona State University, hitting .347 with 45 homeruns and 175 runs batted in. He was Sporting News All-American selection in 1984 when he batted .360 and had 30 stolen bases. He tied the NCAA record with seven consecutive hits and was named to the All-Time College World Series Team in 1996.

Bonds graduated from Arizona State in 1986 with a degree in criminology. He then was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first round (6th overall) of the 1985 Major League Baseball Draft. He made his major league debut on May 30th, 1986. He won his first MVP award in 1990 and his first Gold Glove award the same year. In 1993, Bonds left the Pirates to sign a 43.75 million dollar contract over 6 years with the Giants. He wanted to follow his father’s foot-steps and play for the Giants. In 1996, Bonds became the first player to hit 40 homeruns and steal 40 bases in the same season. In 1998 he hit .303 with 37 homeruns and drove in 122 runs, along with winning his eighth gold glove. In 2002, Bonds re-signed with the Giants for five years, 90 million dollars. On May 20th, 2006, Bonds tied Babe Ruth, hitting his 714th career homerun. In 2007 Bonds broke the all-time homerun record held previously by Hank Aaron. In 2008 the Giants confirmed they would not bring back Bonds for the 2008 season. Due to off the field troubles and steroid use, Bonds has yet to return to baseball.

The 1990 National League Championship Series featured the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Reds came out on top in the series four games to two. The Reds went on to sweep the Athletics in the World Series in four games. This was the only NLCS during the 1990s that did not feature the Atlanta Braves. Barry Bonds struggled in the series as well, failing to hit a homerun. He missed many opportunity’s to tie the ball game and he hit into double plays or pop-outs. Barry struggles and so did the team losing the series. Barry did have some bright sports, in game 3 he singles in the eighth inning to get an RBI and make it a 5-3 ballgame. However, most of his highlights were busts, like in game 2 Barry had a big opportunity to make the Pirates take the lead but instead he popped put. The Pirated ended up losing to the Reds who went on to win it all.

In 2003, Bonds' name emerged in connection with a federal investigation into alleged steroids distribution from the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative. In 2006, in the book Game of Shadows, authors Lance Williams and Mark Fainuru-Wada, alleged that Bonds knowingly took steroids for many years. The scandal overshadowed Bonds pursuit of Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron's home run records throughout the 2006 and 2007 seasons, and Bonds was often greeted with boos while on the road.

On November 24, 2008, a judge threw out three counts of perjury against Bonds. 12 counts still remain. The judge of the case is Judge Susan Illston.ESPN.com: Bulk of government's charges against Bonds remain intact (November 24, 2008)

On January 28, 2009, The New York Times reported that urine tests showed that Bonds had used anabolic steroids. The samples taken by authorities could prove that Bonds used steroids in addition to the "cream" and the "clear.ESPN.com: Bonds reportedly used other steroids (January 29, 2009)

Bonds' February 5 plea of "not guilty" came just one day after a federal judge unsealed the 223-page court file surrounding Bonds' case, which included steroid test results and personal correspondence between Bonds and his trainer.CNN.com: Judge Unseals Barry Bonds' 223-page Court File

• July 24, 1964: Born

• 1986: Makes Major League debut with Pittsburgh Pirates

• 1993: Signs with San Francisco Giants

• 2001: Breaks single-season record for home runs with 73

• 2006: Hits home run number 734 for 2nd all time in Major League Baseball

• 2007: All-Star Starter

• 2007: Hits home run #755 and #756 to become all-time home run king